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Eurobarometer 77.2: Economic and Financial Crisis, Helplines for Social Services, Railway Competition, Food Production and Quality, and Cyber Security, March 2012 (ICPSR 34578)

Principal Investigator(s):
European Commission

Summary:

The Eurobarometer series is a unique cross-national and cross-temporal survey program conducted on behalf of the European Commission. These surveys regularly monitor public opinion in the European Union (EU) member countries and consist of standard modules and special topic modules. The standard modules address attitudes toward European unification, institutions and policies, measurements for general socio-political orientations, as well as respondent and household demographics. The special topic modules address such topics as agriculture, education, natural environment and resources, public health, public safety and crime, and science and technology.
This round of Eurobarometer surveys covers the following special topics: (1) helplines for social services, (2) railway competition, (3) food production and quality, and (4) cyber security. Questions in this survey address the respondent's usage, knowledge, and opinions of telephone hotlines and helplines for services of social value. Other questions pertain to the respondent's usage and opinions of the current railway system, as well as their opinions about the effects of additional competition in the rail market. Respondents were asked for their opinions concerning food supply, production, and quality. Additional questions focused on the respondent's usage of the Internet and their concerns regarding cybercrimes.
Demographic and other background information collected includes age, gender, nationality, marital status and parental relations, occupation, age when stopped full-time education, household composition, ownership of a fixed or mobile telephone and other goods, difficulties in paying bills, level in society, and Internet use. In addition, country-specific data includes type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).

The Eurobarometer series is a unique cross-national and cross-temporal survey program conducted on behalf of the European Commission. These surveys regularly monitor public opinion in the European Union (EU) member countries and consist of standard modules and special topic modules. The standard modules address attitudes toward European unification, institutions and policies, measurements for general socio-political orientations, as well as respondent and household demographics. The special topic modules address such topics as agriculture, education, natural environment and resources, public health, public safety and crime, and science and technology.

This round of Eurobarometer surveys covers the following special topics: (1) helplines for social services, (2) railway competition, (3) food production and quality, and (4) cyber security. Questions in this survey address the respondent's usage, knowledge, and opinions of telephone hotlines and helplines for services of social value. Other questions pertain to the respondent's usage and opinions of the current railway system, as well as their opinions about the effects of additional competition in the rail market. Respondents were asked for their opinions concerning food supply, production, and quality. Additional questions focused on the respondent's usage of the Internet and their concerns regarding cybercrimes.

Demographic and other background information collected includes age, gender, nationality, marital status and parental relations, occupation, age when stopped full-time education, household composition, ownership of a fixed or mobile telephone and other goods, difficulties in paying bills, level in society, and Internet use. In addition, country-specific data includes type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).

Study Description

Citation

European Commission. Eurobarometer 77.2: Economic and Financial Crisis, Helplines for Social Services, Railway Competition, Food Production and Quality, and Cyber Security, March 2012. ICPSR34578-v2. Cologne, Germany: GESIS/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributors], 2013-11-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34578.v2

Universe:
In all, Eurobarometer 77.2 interviewed 26,593 citizens in the 27 countries of the European Union after the 2004/2007 enlargement (i.e. including the Accession Countries Romania and Bulgaria). All respondents were residents in their respective country, nationals and non-nationals but EU-citizens, and aged 15 and over. Respondents were expected to have sufficient command of one of the respective national language(s) to answer the questionnaire.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The original data collection was carried out by TNS Opinion and Social on request of the European Commission between March 10 and March 25, 2012.

The codebook and setup files for this collection contain characters with diacritical marks used in many European languages.

The field work dates in the data are not consistent with those found in the "Technical Specifications" section of the ICPSR Codebook.

Methodology

Sample:
The basic sample design applied in all states is a multistage, random (probability) one. In each country, a number of sampling points was drawn with probability proportional to population size (for a total coverage of the country) and to population density.
In order to do so, the sampling points were drawn systematically from each of the "administrative regional units", after stratification by individual unit and type of area. They thus represent the whole territory of the countries surveyed according to the EUROSTAT NUTS II (or equivalent) and according to the distribution of the resident population of the respective nationalities in terms of metropolitan, urban and rural areas. In each of the selected sampling points, a starting address was drawn, at random. Further addresses (every Nth address) were selected by standard "random route" procedures, from the initial address. In each household, the respondent was drawn, at random (following the "closest birthday rule"). All interviews were conducted face-to-face in people's homes and in the appropriate national language. As far as the data capture is concerned, CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) was used in those countries where this technique was available. Please refer to the Technical Specifications section within the ICPSR Codebook for additional sampling information.

Weight:
For all countries surveyed, a national weighting procedure, using marginal and intercellular weighting, was carried out based on this Universe description. In all countries, gender, age, region and size of locality were introduced in the iteration procedure. For international weighting (i.e. EU averages), TNS Opinion and Social applies the official population figures as provided by EUROSTAT or national statistic offices. Please refer to the Technical Specifications section within the ICPSR Codebook for additional weighting information.

Mode of Data Collection:
face-to-face interview

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release: 2013-05-10

Version History:

2013-11-06 GESIS has further updated this collection. Also, data for all previously embargoed variables are now available and correspond to GESIS data version 3.0.0.